The present invention relates generally to a singulation system for recyclable material and more specifically to a device which takes a quantity of recyclable material and places each item individually on a conveyor or chute or other transportation means.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that recycling materials is very popular, given the need for energy and land conservation. It will further be appreciated by those skilled in the art that different types of materials are recycled in different manners. Therefore, these materials must be sorted by type. Certain materials, such as ferrous metals, can be sorted by type using a magnet. Other sorts can be made based on a material property, such as the electrical conductivity of metals, by using an eddy current type sensor. Magnetic and eddy current sensing can detect and be used to remove a specific material type from a collection of different types of materials. Other materials, such as plastic containers, however may be constructed of a variety of plastic polymer types. The majority part of the container may be made from PET, while the base of the container is covered with an HDPE cup. Additionally the closure may be made of aluminum or another plastic polymer type. Determining the majority constituent of a plastic container then requires that each container be examined in detail, such as by making numerous measurements of the entire container with electromagnetic radiation sensors. In order for these determining sensors to work at their most efficient, the plastic container must pass through or go over these sensors or other devices one at a time, to avoid confusion from other plastic types in close proximity. Unfortunately, plastic containers are generally collected in one spot in large groups and then placed into a recycling system in large groups. For example, plastic containers are usually sent to recycling center in large bales.
In the past, sorting of plastic containers has been done by using some type of human sorting system. Humans remove the plastic container by type from a conveyor belt one at a time.
Until now, singulation has been developed only for objects of very similar sizes and shapes, such as positioning of steel, glass or aluminum containers on a filling process line. Other devices have been developed to orient screws and bolts for filling containers or further processing. These devices, however, are also designed to work only with objects of similar sizes and shapes.
What is needed, then, is a device for singulating recyclable materials such as plastic container which vary widely in size and shape. Additionally, the plastic containers may be received in relatively whole condition or in flattened condition in bales form. The singulating device must be able to handle plastic containers of these widely varying sizes, shapes and conditions, and must be economically feasible and efficient. This device must be simple to operate. This device must be usable with an entire recyclable system. This device is presently lacking in the prior art.